


Remorse and forgiveness

by loup_garou



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 21:11:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17454395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loup_garou/pseuds/loup_garou
Summary: No words spoken but message communicated





	Remorse and forgiveness

Bruce looks at the lasagna in front of him. It is cooked to perfection, flavours nuanced and exquisitely balanced. It is, in fact, a perfect lasagna. The Rolls Royce of lasagnas. He hates lasagna. With as quiet a sigh as he can manage, he picks up his fork and resigns himself to eating it. Hopefully, if he eats it, Alfred will forgive him for not noticing that Dick had pneumonia before taking him on patrol.

When he was a child being raised by Alfred in a house filled to the brim with the absense of his parents, he never got food he didn't like twice. Alfred would try something new, keeping a Plan B dish in readiness, and if he didn't like it he never saw it again. Nowadays, he appreciates the care taken to ensure he ate at all, even in the first dreadful year of being an orphan. On the days when he is served lasagna he appreciates those memories even more.

Most of the time his food is exactly as he likes it and arrives promptly. When he has managed to really upset Alfred, his food will be particularly well made, with extraordinary care taken to make it perfect in all ways, and it will be all the dishes he really dislikes. It is Alfred's way of registering deep disapproval. His eating it is a signal that he is remorseful: all the things he cannot say conveyed through the mute consumption of Alfred's cooking.

This time, it's cauliflower cheese. The serving dish is placed on the table with what is almost a flourish, and the smell rises off it.  
"Cauliflower?" Bruce hears himself say in disbelief.  
"Yes, Master Wayne. Master Damian is particularly fond of cauliflower, " Alfred responds serenely.  
Bruce forgoes mentioning that Damian is in Blüdhaven with Dick. He serves himself as small a helping as he hopes he can get away with, and fervently wishes that one meal will be sufficient to indicate how very sorry he is that Arsenal had to rescue Red Hood after Batman left him bleeding on a roof.

One meal is not enough. Alfred is not just unusually polite, even for Alfred; the food is spectacularly well made, and it's dish after dish that he dislikes to the point of hatred. After a few days, he realises that not only does his coffee have sugar, it is decaf. He works his way through all the meals, wondering if anything he does will be enough. The house smells of everything he doesn't like. The conversation is polite and reaching the chill of absolute zero. He will break down and apologise in words if this doesn't end.

After four weeks, just as he is getting ready to beg not just Alfred but Jason for forgiveness if that will end the situation, he picks up his coffee and finds it sugar free. He takes another careful sip, wondering if he's just gotten so used to the sugar that he can't taste it. The caffeine jolt is noticeable. Not just without sugar, but no longer decaf. He raises bloodshot eyes to Alfred, knowing that he probably looks like a puppy who has been misbehaving and hopes no one will notice, and sees what might be a softening of his butler's features. The breakfast in front of him has fried potatoes, which he hasn't seen in a long empty month.   
"Alfred..?" he says, hesitatingly. "Did anything happen?"  
"Not so far as I am aware, Master Wayne," Alfred replies, picking up the pot to refill his coffee. He moves towards the kitchen and his own breakfast, then stops on the threshold.  
"Oh, I just heard from Master Dick. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that your younger son, Master Jason, is fully recovered from the injuries he sustained lately."  
"Very happy," Bruce affirms feebly. "Very happy indeed."  
"Yes, " says Alfred. "Let us hope nothing like that ever happens to him again, shall we, Master Wayne?"  
With a especially pointed look, Alfred exits the dining room, leaving Bruce to his breakfast and the remorse he can never find words for.


End file.
